Basics get Coffs home

NOTHING creates victories in cricket like the age old basics of the game according to Daryl Parmenter, the captain of Coffs Harbour's representative cricket side.

It was the completion of these basics that impressed Parmenter the most about Coffs Harbour's demolition of Nambucca-Bellingen in the second round of the statewide SCG Country Cup on Sunday.

Bowling a simple line and length, fielding tightly, protecting your wicket with the bat and keeping up high energy throughout was the simple recipe for success that the Coffs Harbour team delivered.

"It was a very good team effort, I was most impressed," the captain said.

"Their openers put up a good fight but I knew once we got past the openers the rest would crumble.

"If we kept up the energy and intensity throughout then we were going to be fine."

Bowling first, it took a while for the highly rated Coffs Harbour team to make the first breakthrough as Philip Hughes and Lloyd Moore put on a 49 run opening stand but the runs were coming at a slow rate which would tell later in the innings as the pressure built on each newcoming batsman.

The last eight wickets fell for only 26 runs.

The collapse was kickstarted by Darren Funston taking three wickets in six balls while Mickey Lawrence and Brad Guthrie combined to clean up the tail.

Young all-rounder Joe Mennie was the only wicketless bowler for Coffs Harbour but he was the seamer who most impressed his captain.

"He didn't get any wickets but he bowled very, very well and was unlucky," Parmenter said.

"I was very impressed with the tight line that he bowled."

The number one seeded team on the North Coast only needed 34 overs to chase down the small 136 run target as an unbeaten 62 from opener Jordan Moran steered the team home.

Moran was placed under some verbal pressure from some of his Bellingen-Dorrigo teammates who were in the opposition line-up but it only served to steel his resolve to get the job done.

"What impressed me the most with him was being not out at the end of the innings," the proud skipper said.

"I told him not to get involved in the talk that was going on out there, instead to just let his bat do the talking."

Sunday's success means that the representative team progresses through to the third round of the knockout competition in three weeks time.

The Coffs Harbour team will meet the victor of the Macleay Valley v Manning River clash.

Victory in the third round will mean the team qualifies for the Country Cup carnival to be played at Dubbo over the Christmas/New Year break.

It is the upcoming match that has proven the stumbling block for the team in the past but this year's squad is determined to reach the final 16 stage in Dubbo.

"The boys are very, very hungry and they're looking forward to the next round," captain Parmenter warned.